Wal-Mart Good for America

wsj.com ^ | April 5, 2005 5:22 p.m. | Associated Press

[The Great Yazoo]

ROGERS, Ark. -- Wal-Mart is "good for America" and the barrage of criticism against the company is an effort to protect the status quo in retailing, President and CEO Lee Scott said Tuesday in a sharp attack on organized labor and retail rivals.

Addressing about 50 journalists gathered at the company's media conference -- it first ever media event – Mr. Scott defended its wages and health care plans, criticized by labor groups as inadequate, and said that the company is able to save customers big money as it drives costs out of its system.

"Innovation and competition tends to change the status quo," said Mr. Scott, speaking at a hotel in Rogers, a few miles from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Bentonville headquarters.

[The Great Yazoo]

they piss off all the right people.

That they do!

[GOPJ]

Wal-Marts have helped the poor in others countries too -- more than the liberal's Peace Corps. They don't make a fuss about putting a well in the center of town, they bring prosperity to whole communities. Wal-Marts the real deal.

Wal-Mart has done more to help the poor than the Catholic Church and the Salvation Army. It has raised the standard of living of millions by lowering prices. Wal-Mart is like a power-broker for the poor.

[Duke Nukum]

I agree. Wal-Mart is great for America, it keeps the riff-raff out of the nicer stores. ;-D

[Eagles6]

You vote with your wallet. You buy what you need from free or relatively free countries. Everyone in my family does it. It takes some effort but with the internet it's easier than ever.

[jpsb]

"Not me."

So if I put a gun to your head and tell you to start picking cotton, that's cool, cause the cost of cotton goes down? And you call yourself a conservative?

[Eagles6]

China is a totalitarian state bent on world domination and destruction of America and our way of life. I have no desire to "help" this party.
I have not the time nor the energy, tonight, to impart my views on the incompetently stupid policy of providing the most brutal regime the world has ever seen with cold, hard cash that they use to build weapons with which to kill us.

[The Great Yazoo]

So if I put a gun to your head and tell you to start picking cotton...

Then you are a criminal.

[Eagles6]

"Wal-Mart has done more to help the poor than the Catholic Church."

I'm almost speechless. Are you insane? When do they come with your meds?

[Alberta's Child]

Now the folks in Jonquiere are sending far less money to Communist Red China and keeping more of their Canadian dollars in Canada.

I would venture to guess that the people in Jonquiere are buying just as many Chinese-made products today as they were when Wal-Mart was open.

For the life of me, I can't understand how so many apparently intelligent people here on FR really believe that Chinese-made products are only sold in Wal-Mart.

[Alberta's Child]

Cheap labor INHIBITS innovation - look at ancient Egypt and slave based civilizations.

You've got a very good point there. In his autobiography, Frederick Douglass describes how amazed he was at living standards in the North after he escaped from the plantation in the South where he was born and raised. Black laborers in New Bedford, Massachusetts -- who were not fully "free" in any sense of the word -- had a higher standard of living than most plantation owners in Maryland where he lived.

[this_ol_patriot]

I have nothing for or against Wal-Mart, it's just a place to shop as far as I'm concerned but here in York, Pa. the grocery sections are just awful. The produce section smells like a garbage can and I saw a bird pooping on the potatos, no shit, it was flying around crapping everywhere. The fish and meat section smells just like the Inner Harbor did near the Proctor & Gamble plant not the spicy McCormick smell. Shopping at Giant or Weis for food is a pleasure compared to Wal-Mart although Wal-Mart has some things they don't have like my hot sauce sardines.

[jpsb]

Not if we lived in China and I was a Chicom government/business man.

[The Great Yazoo]

I have no desire to "help" this party.

Nor do I. There's no intent whatsoever to "help" China in my motivation to buy from the Chinese. They simply sell stuff in America cheaper than we can make it in America. Here's my point: America buys things from China because we believe it is in our best interests to buy things from China.

Many posters on this thread seem to think that they have the right to demand that I not buy from China. I don't insist that they buy from China. Their demands impede my freedom to buy where I want to. My insistence upon my rights to buy where I wish doesn't impede their rights in any respect, unless it is their supposed right to demand that I do as they require.

China's government deserves grave reserve and suspicion. I certainly wouldn't allow them to purchase rocket parts al a Loral. But purchases of consumer goods doesn't rise to that level.

[The Great Yazoo]

Sorry. Unless you believe that the government possesses exclusive authority to determine what is a crime, you'd still be a criminal.

[Eagles6]

Allright, you think A.Pole's comment is stupidest. jpsb thinks that SamAdams76 is the dumbest. I myself have thought that The Great Yazoo and oldbrowser were vying for the honor, but I think in deference to the passing of the Holy Father I have to nominate On the Road to Serfdom.

"Wal-Mart has done more to help the poor than the Catholic Church"

[Eagles6]

Of course it does. By buying their manufactured goods you provide them the cash to buy rocket parts al a Loral.

[The Great Yazoo]

By buying their manufactured goods you provide them the cash to buy rocket parts al a Loral.

Oh, come on now! Clinton would have given the Chinese the cash to buy those parts if they didn't have it.

Good Grief! and Good Night!

[jpsb]

SamAdams76 had my vote until I read that. As much as I'd like to see SamAdams76 win, he really is a deserving of the award for his many contributions to idiocy over the years, I must agree with you. That Wal-Mart has done more to help the poor than the Catholic Church sets a new standard that even SamAdams76 will be hard pressed to match.

[Eagles6]

We start anew tomorrow.

[Tiger Smack]

and also good for funding the Chinese military, be sure to thank Sprawl*Mart for that during WW3